F-Sport Tyre Valve Caps

[Rabbers]

The other day while my winter tyres were being changed back to summers, I examined the OEM F-Sport valve caps more closely than I ever 

previously did, appreciating their nice quality and design.  Out of curiosity while waiting  I looked the caps up online and saw them offered by

Lexus Parts Direct UK at £7.58 each (discounted from £8.24!), meaning upwards of £30 for a set.  I long ago ceased to be surprised by the

high price of Lexus parts, even minor ones, but on this occasion my mind truly boggled.

[Linas.P]

Yeah... Imagine my anger when I got my car delivered  and not only it was missing one cap, but other 3 were mixture of simple black and grey caps. Then I thought "no problem I will order some" and realised they were ~£40 + VAT 😁 (I think back in 2019 they were 10.74+ VAT).

That is Lexus 150 points pre-sale inspection for you... probably does not include the check if car has valve caps.

I do appreciate that some car parts are expensive for car which costs £42k new, but some parts are just simple plastic e.g. windscreen drip mouldings are ~£180 for 2, but what is worse is that disposable plastic clips holding them are something like £5.66 +VAT and you need 12 of them.

Same for rubber seal clips under the door - 7 clips, each will costs ~£6-7. At least it is not 13 of them like on IS250 (benefits of 2 door car 😄).

[LenT]

I think that’s a bargain.  Replacing just one valve cap on my Lexus cost me £75.

To be fair, it did involve replacing the entire TPMS valve on one wheel where a helpful lad had snapped the valve off while trying to remove the metal dust cap that had corroded onto the valve stem!

Yes, not a problem I had ever encountered before, but apparently why the other Lexus branded dust caps were now plastic.

Probably something most of you already know.  But something worth checking if you don’t.

[Linas.P]

Not sure I understand what you mean - you paid £75 for what? If that is for TPMS sensor then it is actually cheap.

1 hour ago, LenT said:

I think that’s a bargain.  Replacing just one valve cap on my Lexus cost me £75.

Lexus OEM F-Sport caps were always some strange alloy - it is light like plastic, but cold like metal, not sure what it is but it isn't aluminium and it isn't plastic either. What matters galvanic corrosion is not an issue with OEM caps.

If you had galvanic corrosion, that means somebody lost original caps and replaced them with fleabay knock-offs which are usually aluminium and which do corrode making it impossible to remove. I remember having to extract one from my friends Audi - he was holding the stem with vice grips and a lot of cushioning whilst I was cutting the cap with metal saw in half, tool like 45 minutes per wheel... certainly not experience I would like to remember.

[LenT]

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

Not sure I understand what you mean - you paid £75 for what? If that is for TPMS sensor then it is actually cheap

Well at least you've made me feel slightly better about it! 🙂

The strange part, Linus, is that the car was sold by a Lexus dealer and regularly serviced by them for the previous owner.  I bought it off the same dealer who then regularly serviced it.  So the puzzle is: when did someone replace (only!) three metal dust caps with plastic ones?  I did come across a comment that Lexus had replaced the metal caps with plastic for this very reason.

I do recall in the 'old days' that a smear of Vaseline round the valve was applied to prevent this very same problem.  So it did have other uses, then.

[Linas.P]

8 minutes ago, LenT said:

The strange part, Linus, is that the car was sold by a Lexus dealer and regularly serviced by them for the previous owner.  I bought it off the same dealer who then regularly serviced it.  So the puzzle is: when did someone replace (only!) three metal dust caps with plastic ones?  I did come across a comment that Lexus had replaced the metal caps with plastic for this very reason.

I do recall in the 'old days' that a smear of Vaseline round the valve was applied to prevent this very same problem.  So it did have other uses, then.

As I said mine came from single owner and single Lexus dealer and only had 3 caps in total, which didn't even matched well. On my old IS250 I had F-sport wheels from mk3 and they came with OEM caps. As I said they were not aluminium, but rather special alloy.

Using some sort of grease is an option for aftermarket caps, but it is kind of messy.

[Mincey]

I now feel robbed. My IS300h F Sport didn't have special valve caps. In fact, it didn't have any, so more than likely some light fingered scroat nicked them at some point before I picked it up. I remember the first thing I bought for it were some boring black valve caps from Halfords for about £4 a set. 

My IS250 came with special (or they seemed as such) valve caps which lasted a week or so before some youths liberated them for their BMX bikes. Sometimes boring is best.

[Linas.P]

Just to be clear I was not angry they were missing, but because I didn't sport it. If I would have spotted it before buying that would be more thing for Lexus to sort out before sale, because I consider that to be standard equipment which dealer should sort out before selling... and I would insist not any black caps, but specifically those fancy £40 F-Sport ones.

[LenT]

1 hour ago, Mincey said:

I now feel robbed.

Sounds like you were!
Have you thought of moving?

[Mincey]

2 hours ago, LenT said:

Sounds like you were!
Have you thought of moving?

It's ok, I don't live there any more.

This reminds me of an old Chubby Brown joke: I was having an argument in a pub with a bloke. I said to him "eee, that's fighting talk where I come from!". He said "why aren't you fighting then?", I said "I've moved". 

Anyone seen my coat?

[Rabbers]

19 hours ago, Linas.P said:

 

Lexus OEM F-Sport caps were always some strange alloy - it is light like plastic, but cold like metal.... not sure what it is ...

I’m guessing some kind of titanium alloy.  Never had the slightest corrosion or aesthetic issue otherwise occasionally experienced with apparently good quality aluminium or steel ones.  

[Initial P]

Always a risk with metal caps of them rusting on so apply some Vaseline before fitting.